Launois Père & Fils

Launois Père & Fils is a family-run estate based in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, a grand cru village of the Côte des Blancs. The house was founded in 1872. According to the house, the knowledge has been passed down from parents to sons and daughters for eight generations. Older sources still speak of six or seven generations, so the number grows with time. Today Séverine and Caroline Launois run the estate as the eighth generation. Their father Bernard Launois led the house for more than four decades.

Vineyards and grape varieties

The size of the vineyard holdings is given differently depending on the source. The Hachette wine guide mentions 21 hectares. Gault&Millau speaks of 30 hectares and around 200,000 bottles a year. The vines stand mainly in the Côte des Blancs and the Sézannais, with Chardonnay as the dominant variety. The family themselves describe their estate as 100% classified on the grand cru scale. That applies to the blanc de blancs cuvées. According to one merchant, their grapes come from grand cru sites in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Cramant and Oger. Pinot Noir is added for the rosé and the Œil de Perdrix.

Winemaking and cuvées

The house works with lutte raisonnée (sustainable viticulture), harvests by hand and vinifies in stainless steel tanks and partly in oak barrels. The US importer K&L Wines reports that only the estate's own grapes are used and that the vines come from massal selection of their own mother vines, with no clones.

“The family themselves describe their estate as 100% classified on the grand cru scale.

• Cuvée Réservée: a grand cru brut blanc de blancs, mostly from Le Mesnil, with a little Oger.
• Dorine: a blanc de blancs, partly aged in wood.
• Séverine: named after Séverine Launois, made from old vines on the mid-slope at Le Mesnil.
• Millésime Maxime: a vintage blanc de blancs from 100% grand cru Chardonnay grown on chalk soils, with a dosage of 7 g/L.
• Rosé Valentine and Œil de Perdrix complete the range.

Visiting and tasting

The family has set up a museum of the vine and wine, which is open to visitors. The château in Villers-aux-Bois, where the family still lives, is open too. Among other things you can see presses from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Tours are available in French and English, on request. If you like, you can join in the harvest on picking days, with a traditional growers' breakfast. Booking ahead is advisable. Prices are listed on the house's website and may change.